Movie Review Black Los Angeles

BlackNLA Movie Reviews

*****THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*****

by Edwardo Jackson

BIASES: 30 (yikes!) year old black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare

IMAGINE ME & YOU (PG-13)

MOVIE BIASES: None. But someone in the theater asked, "Is this that
gay movie?"

MAJOR PLAYERS: Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly), Matthew Goode (Match Point), Lena Headey (The Brothers Grimm) and writer/director Ol Parker

Believe in love at first sight? Evidently, Luce (Headey) and Rachel (Perabo) do – sort of. As the florist at Rachel's wedding - with her marrying good guy Heck (Goode) – Luce tries to table her attraction to the newlywed bride, who strangely finds herself discovering feelings she's never had towards someone of the same sex. Their new, boundary-pushing friendship teeters dangerously on the ledge of
something more, which threatens to explode her very new, somewhat tenuous marriage to the unsuspecting, sweetly safe Heck.

What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? "It's a trick question," Parker's script informs us, as one or the other has to prevail. Consider Parker's "Imagine Me & You" as the irresistible force to my immovable object. Through pure sincerity, deftly humanizing writing, and a lovingly lensed London, Parker's film wins you over with a classically nontraditional love story; it just so
happens to be British and involve a lesbian. Sure it contains that all-too familiar trope of the romantic comedy known as "The Run," but, for the most part, Parker has a fresh, engaging voice that will win you over with its stealthy humor if you let it, kind of like a good episode of "Scrubs" or "The Office."

Matthew Goode continues to impress, this time as the heart-crackingly, endearingly earnest Heck. Despite being somewhat wrong for his new bride (even more so than he knows), the impossibly dashing Goode truly makes you feel for Heck as he stumbles about trying to fix whatever may be wrong in his new marriage. Although I didn't buy the shapeless, redheaded Lena Headey as this visually desirous object of lesbian affection (granted, what do I know? I'm just a hetero male), I did, however, embrace Jersey girl Piper Perabo as a young, conflicted Brit. Flaunting a seamlessly nifty British accent, Perabo channels Rachel's confusion with the right amount of guilty conscience and excitement of crossing into a new, forbidden frontier. Does she play it safe and respect her vows to a man who clearly loves her, or does she take the risk of her life, one that will upend her world as she knows it,
hurting those she loves?

"You can never be sure…Sure is for those who don't love enough." By couching his story in the tenets of romantic comedy, Parker's "ImagineMe & You" is far more innocent and non-controversial than a certain gay drama currently sweeping the awards circuit Stateside – and that's okay. There's room enough in our cultural universe for and a serious, emotionally draining gay cowboy movie AND a NutraSweet lesbian rom-com.

@@@ REELS
(THREE REELS)
It's pretty hot – go give it a shot.

Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at ReelReviewz@aol.com!

Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com




			BlackNLA Movie Reviews ***THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*** by Edwardo Jackson BIASES: 30 (yikes!) year old black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare IMAGINE ME & YOU (PG-13) MOVIE BIASES: None. But someone in the theater asked, "Is this that gay movie?" MAJOR PLAYERS: Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly), Matthew Goode (Match Point), Lena Headey (The Brothers Grimm) and writer/director Ol Parker Believe in love at first sight? Evidently, Luce (Headey) and Rachel (Perabo) do – sort of. As the florist at Rachel's wedding - with her marrying good guy Heck (Goode) – Luce tries to table her attraction to the newlywed bride, who strangely finds herself discovering feelings she's never had towards someone of the same sex. Their new, boundary-pushing friendship teeters dangerously on the ledge of something more, which threatens to explode her very new, somewhat tenuous marriage to the unsuspecting, sweetly safe Heck. What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? "It's a trick question," Parker's script informs us, as one or the other has to prevail. Consider Parker's "Imagine Me & You" as the irresistible force to my immovable object. Through pure sincerity, deftly humanizing writing, and a lovingly lensed London, Parker's film wins you over with a classically nontraditional love story; it just so happens to be British and involve a lesbian. Sure it contains that all-too familiar trope of the romantic comedy known as "The Run," but, for the most part, Parker has a fresh, engaging voice that will win you over with its stealthy humor if you let it, kind of like a good episode of "Scrubs" or "The Office." Matthew Goode continues to impress, this time as the heart-crackingly, endearingly earnest Heck. Despite being somewhat wrong for his new bride (even more so than he knows), the impossibly dashing Goode truly makes you feel for Heck as he stumbles about trying to fix whatever may be wrong in his new marriage. Although I didn't buy the shapeless, redheaded Lena Headey as this visually desirous object of lesbian affection (granted, what do I know? I'm just a hetero male), I did, however, embrace Jersey girl Piper Perabo as a young, conflicted Brit. Flaunting a seamlessly nifty British accent, Perabo channels Rachel's confusion with the right amount of guilty conscience and excitement of crossing into a new, forbidden frontier. Does she play it safe and respect her vows to a man who clearly loves her, or does she take the risk of her life, one that will upend her world as she knows it, hurting those she loves? "You can never be sure…Sure is for those who don't love enough." By couching his story in the tenets of romantic comedy, Parker's "ImagineMe & You" is far more innocent and non-controversial than a certain gay drama currently sweeping the awards circuit Stateside – and that's okay. There's room enough in our cultural universe for and a serious, emotionally draining gay cowboy movie AND a NutraSweet lesbian rom-com. @@@ REELS (THREE REELS) It's pretty hot – go give it a shot. Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at ReelReviewz@aol.com! Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com Â© 2004, Edwardo Jackson